Arlo Parks has hailed her Mercury Prize 2021 as a victory for independent music, as well as proof that “you don’t need a mad expensive studio to make cool music.”

Parks won the coveted Prize last week, beating off competition from the likes of Ghetts, Mogwai, Celeste, Wolf Alice and BERWYN with her acclaimed 2021 album ‘Collapsed In Sunbeams‘ – released in January on Transgressive Records.

When asked by NME what her triumph told us about music in 2021, Parks replied: “I guess representing the fact that independent music is as important as ever and is growing and growing with every year. The fact that you don’t need a mad expensive studio to make cool music. You can be yourself and people accept you for that.”

Quizzed about her plans for new music and further activity in 2021, she added: “I’m keeping those cards pretty close to my chest, I’m definitely doing a lot of writing, and it’s going to be a lot of touring for me – to be honest. I’ll be going to America and sharing the music with the world.”

Accepting the trophy on the night, an emotional Parks said: “I’m completely speechless. I don’t even have the words. I just want to say a big thank you to my family, my mum and my dad are somewhere in the room today.

“I want to thank my team as well, this is something that came with a lot of hard work from a lot of different people. I want to thank Transgressive, PIAS, my managers Ali and Sarah. It took a lot of sacrifice and hard work to get here and there were moments where I wasn’t sure whether I would make it through, but I’m here today.”

She then performed a live rendition of ‘Collapsed In Sunbeams’ track ‘Too Good’ to a standing ovation.

Music fans then took to Twitter to praise the decision to crown Parks the winner, including Taylor Swift who told her that her album was “stunning“.

Parks is currently in the midst of an intimate UK tour, with bigger headline dates set for her return in the winter alongside shows in America and Europe. Visit here for tickets and more information.